Based on the Marvel Comics character from World War II. A brave, yet mild-mannered young soldier named , volunteers to undergo a series of experiments for a US army Super Soldier program. The military succeeds in transforming him into a human weapon, but quickly decide that their Super Soldier is far too expensive a creation to risk in combat. So, they decide to put him to use as an army celebrity and parade him across Europe to boost morale by performing in USO shows for American troops. He is even given a costume that bear the colors of Old Glory for the stage. Then, when a Nazi plot reveals itself Rogers must rise up and and become the First Avenger, in order to save his country. Steve Rogers becomes Captain America and he earns his way into the hearts and souls of every American, bringing hope and justice to a war-weary nation. Later, during a mission to Germany to stop his archenemy – , from launching rockets at the allies, Captain America sacrifices himself and winds up frozen in ice for almost six decades! Revived, Steve Rogers now must join forces with new heroes and become an Avenger of the modern age.

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Bright headlights cut through a thick sheet of snow-flakes. A scientist, bundled as warmly as possible, treks through the sleet. Two other men, in matching black cold-weather uniforms, approach the scientist. He leads them to an excavation site which is easily the size of a football field; at the center of the site appears to be a giant wing and fuselage. The black-suited men cut through the fuselage of the mystery craft and enter. Inside they find the remains of a massive, frozen ship. One of the men brushes away at the snow and sees a shimmering red, white, and blue shield encased in many feet of ice.

Norway, 1942. Two caretakers for an ancient Viking ruin listen as their town is overrun by Nazis. Suddenly the front door blasts open and in flood multiple Nazi agents. One of the caretakers is killed in the blast and the other frantically begs that the soldiers leave him in peace. They pay no attention to the old man and instead open the building’s crypts one-by-one. They come to one sarcophagus whose lid is too heavy to lift. A dark figure appears in the exploded entryway. Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), a high-ranking Nazi, nonchalantly enters. He crosses the room, comes to the difficult-to-open sarcophagus and easily pushes the lid free. Within he finds the skeletal remains of an old Viking clutching a glass cube (the Tesseract). The caretaker pleads for Schmidt to leave it. Schmidt scoffs and tells how this cube would be the jewel of Odin’s treasury if it weren’t a fake. He smashes it on the floor and goes to the caretaker, asking where the real cube reposes. The caretaker initially refuses but under threat of harm to his family, he relents, gesturing to a hidden drawer across the room. Schmidt pries the drawer open and finds the real, glowing cube concealed within. Schmidt orders his men to level the city and then shoots the caretaker.

Brooklyn, New York. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans): a 20-something, 90 lb, 5-foot tall asthmatic eagerly awaits the opportunity to enlist in the United States Army. The army doctor gives a once-over to Steve’s medical file, which reads like that of a 90 year old man, and rejects Steve’s application as the military 4-F.

Distraught Steve heads to the movies. He envies the enlisted men featured in the pre-show newsreel, and watches as other audience members tear up. A loud-mouthed, impatient movie-goer begins yelling at the screen “Start the movie! I didn’t pay to see this crap!” Steve tells the man to shut up, and is surprised as the man turns around, stands up and towers above him. In the alley behind the theater the bully savagely beats little Steve. Skinny Steve bravely fights back, but is easily overpowered. James “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Shaw), Steve’s best friend, comes running to the alley. He swiftly kicks the bully away and tends to Steve, who is annoyed that Bucky showed up and got rid of the bully right as Steve got his second wind. “Bucky” is now an enlisted-man. His application was accepted and he’s been assigned to the 107th infantry.

In a celebratory mood, Bucky invites Steve to go dancing with a pair of girls on a double date. Bashfully, Steve tags along. The four head to the World’s Fair in NYC. While Bucky canoodles with his dates, Steve watches as a young Howard Stark (Dominic West) unsuccessfully demonstrates a flying car. Steve breaks away from the group and goes to another recruiting station. Bucky catches up with him and asks how Steve intends to forge his application this time. Unbeknownst to them both Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) while passing by, eves drops on their conversation. He is fascinated by the gumption of Steve. Bucky wishes Steve good luck on his latest application and Steve heads in to the recruiting station for his fifth physical. Inside Steve sits on an examination table and grows nervous when an MP enters the room, and is soon followed by Dr. Erskine. Dr. Erskine has all of Steve’s prior applications, and recognizing Steve’s strong will and unwavering conviction, he accepts his latest application.

In a secret military installation high in the Alps of Germany, Johann Schmidt brings the glowing cube to Dr. Arnim Zola, his Hydra weapon specialist. The cube’s seemingly limitless power enables Schmidt and Zola to power unstoppable energy guns and cannons. The pair is soon visited by a trio of Hitler’s top commanders, tasked with inspecting Schmidt’s operation. They ridicule Schmidt, saying that the Nazi party no longer takes him seriously due to his obsession with magic and the occult and playfully refer to him as “The Red Skull”; something that infuriates Schmidt. Schmidt takes the three to his weapons lab where they are shown his unstoppable energy weapons and a strategic map of Europe dotted with targets. One of the three notices a target hovering over Berlin and confronts Schmidt. Schmidt quickly kills the three Nazi officers. By doing so Schmidt announces that Hydra has disbanded from the Nazi party and is now enemies with everyone.

Meanwhile, Steve has been enlisted into basic training under the careful watch of Dr. Erskine and Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones). He and his platoon are told that they are candidates for the government’s latest “Super Soldier” program. Phillips is unimpressed with Steve and is vexed by Erskine’s interest in him. During basic training Steve meets a beautiful, but serious British officer Peggy Carter (Haley Atwell) who seems to pity Steve. Despite being the smallest and weakest of the platoon, Steve demonstrates the greatest spirit and selflessness. Phillips, still unconvinced, tosses a grenade into the group, and is surprised as Steve leaps on top of it, willing to sacrifice himself, before discovering that the grenade was a dummy. Phillips concedes to Erskine’s decision.

That evening Erskine speaks with Steve. The two bond over a bottle of Schnapps and Erskine tells how this is not his first time performing this experiment. He tells a story of being a scientist in Germany, and being ordered by Johann Schmidt to create a serum that would give a man god-like strength. Erskine created an early version of the serum he intends to use on Steve, only when Schmidt injected himself his body’s skin corroded away, leaving him as a sinewy red skeleton. Undeterred by the risk, Steve agrees to follow through with the procedure.

The following morning Steve and Peggy wind their way through Brooklyn and come to a stop in front of an old antique shop. Along the way Steve points out various parts in Brooklyn where he’s been beat up. She asks him why he never ran away. He responds that running away, in his mind, was an invitation for further abuse.

The two enter the antique shop, exchange pass-codes with an old woman manning the register and descend into a secret military bunker concealed within. Peggy leads Steve to the heart of the bunker where they find Dr. Erskine preparing a medical capsule along with Howard Stark, and Colonel Phillips rubbing elbows with senators and dignitaries. Steve is told to remove his shirt and sit in the capsule. Stark describes that the procedure will first mean injecting muscle regenerators into Rogers’ major muscle groups which will then be bombarded with vita rays. Carter bids Steve good luck and joins Phillips in the overhead viewing chamber. Erskine’s serum is injected into Steve’s muscles and Steve is enclosed within the vita ray capsule. The capsule glows brightly, and thanks to Steve’s will-power, the procedure is quickly completed. Steve exits the capsule a foot taller, and a hundred pounds heavier with solid mussle. Everybody, including Phillips, celebrates the success of the procedure, and descends from the viewing chamber to congratulate Erskine. A lone dignitary stays behind, placing a small satchel on a chair. Moments later the viewing gallery explodes, the dignitary descends the stairs and fatally shoots Erskine. He swiftly kills the guards and flees to the street with Peggy in hot pursuit. Steve tends to a dying Erskine, who has just enough energy to point to Steve’s heart; Erskine passes. Steve angrily bolts out of the bunker, onto the street.

In the street Peggy pursues the impostor, a German spy named Heinz Kruger (Richard Armitage), and easily kills his getaway driver. Kruger steals a taxi and aims to run over Peggy. Steve arrives in the nick of time, saving her from being flattened by the on-coming taxi. Steve pursues the taxi on foot. He leaps onto the roof of the taxi, dodges Kruger’s gunfire and the two come to a crashing stop at the Brooklyn docks. Kruger flees to his Hydra sub, which dives underwater just as Steve arrives. Steve dives after the sub, punches a hole through the cockpit’s glass and yanks Kruger to the surface. Kruger tells Steve that he is a member of Hydra and that when one head dies, two more take it’s place. He pops a fake tooth loose, and swallows it. Foam bubbles from his mouth and Kruger dies.

The following day Phillips and Carter pick up the remains of Erskine’s lab. Both are despondent because the only man able to produce the super soldier serum was Erskine. Steve is eager to go the front lines but Phillips would rather he be a lab-rat than a soldier in his army. Steve is approached by a senator holding a newspaper of the prior day’s events, emblazoned with a front-page photo of Steve chasing down Heinz Kruger. Steve has become an overnight celebrity and the Senator has an idea that will be mutually beneficial. Steve is enlisted in the USO and travels around the American midwest performing musical numbers in a shoddy red, white and blue costume while carrying a stars-and-stripes shield. He takes on the name “Captain America.” Captain America becomes an overnight success, spawning comic books and black and white movies. His antics drum up revenue for the USO.

Steve is soon taken overseas, to Italy, where he is to entertain the troops. Upon his arrival the surly and war-torn men tease him and tell him to get lost. He is soon met by Carter, who along with Phillips, is overseeing this theater of the war. She tells him that the men are unhappy because many men from their division, the 107th, have been killed in battle. Steve realizes that Bucky was a part of the 107th and quickly runs to see Phillips. Phillips is unable to find any man named Barnes on his casualty list and tells Steve to go back to his job as a movie star and a cheerleader. Steve asks Carter where the men, and Bucky, are being held. She shows him a map, and a Hydra weapons plant 30-40 miles behind enemy lines. Steve hastily pulls on a pair of army trousers and leather jacket over his Captain America costume, and a blue helmet with a white ‘A’ stamped on the front. He aims to steal a jeep and drive into Hydra’s back yard, but she has a better idea.

Howard Stark flies them both over the battlefield in his private prop-plane. Steve surmises that Stark and Carter have a relationship and bashfully withholds his feelings for her. Just as AAA guns from Hydra begins firing on Stark’s plane, Steve parachutes in, while the other two escape back to safety. Steve stealthily makes his way into the Hydra base, taking out numerous guards in the process.

Inside Johann Schmidt and Arnim Zola are manufacturing enough weapons to wipe out every capital in the world. Steve makes his way to the holding cells where he sees hundreds of imprisoned men from the 107th. He frees the men and tells them to make a messy exit. Under the leadership of the “Howling Commandos” the prisoners manage to overpower their captors, steal guns and tanks, and escape from the facility. Schmidt watches Steve by CCTV, and quickly realizes that he must be Erskine’s man. Steve makes his way through the facility and happens across Bucky, who is tied down to an operating table. There, he also notices an oversized tactical map mounted on the wall, with various marked installations. Steve frees Bucky, who is surprised to see that Steve is taller than him, and commits the map to memory. The two head up the catwalks and find themselves face-to-face with Schmidt on a telescoping bridge. Rogers punches Schmidt in the face who surprisingly stands his ground. Schmidt plays with his face, as it has apparently come free from his skull and quickly peels it away as a mask. The Red Skull stares back at Rogers and Bucky and swiftly enters an elevator. In the elevator The Red Skull tells Arnim Zola to meet him at another one of Hydra’s bases and to take his car. The Red Skull escapes the exploding facility in a private plane while Zola sneaks away in Schmidt’s roadster. Inside Steve and Bucky have a huge divide to cross to their freedom. Bucky crosses a trembling, buckling support beam and manages to cross to safety moments before the beam plummets into the fire below. Left with no other option, Steve backs up as far as he can and leaps over the burning chasm. His fate is unknown.

Back at the 107th base camp, Phillips dictates a letter to his typist, telling how Rogers disappeared the prior night and likely perished during the battle. Just then Rogers arrives, with nearly 400 survivors of the 107th, leaving the base in a fervor. Rogers submits himself to Phillips’ discipline for going MIA, but is forgiven.

The news of “Captain America’s” success on the battlefield is swept over the world. In Brooklyn, Steve gives Phillips and Carter his best recollection of the Hydra base map and tells them that he intends to go to those bases and take them out one-by-one and wishes to recruit a team of men made up of those he liberated in Italy. Steve meets the men (the Howling Commandos) in a bar and they eagerly accept the offer. While there all the men are surprised as Peggy enters dressed in a form-fitting cocktail dress. She ignores all the men, including Bucky, and flirts with Steve, telling him that she’d love to have a dance with him some day.

The next day Steve is summoned to the Brooklyn bunker to see Phillips and Stark. Steve is approached by a beautiful female officer who wishes to thank him for his service the best way she knows how. Peggy walks in on Steve kissing the enlisted-woman and angrily storms away. Steve apologetically follows her to Stark’s lab, insisting that he gets nervous around women and asks why he should apologize if Carter and Stark have a thing going. Stark quickly shoots down the rumored relationship and takes Steve to a table filled with prototype shields. Steve lifts a circular, vibranium shield. Stark explains that vibranium is lighter than steel and is vibration resistant. He holds the shield in front of him and asks Peggy for his opinion. She playfully/scornfully fires a clip at the shield, which Steve ducks behind. The shield works. As she walks off, Steve passes a sketch of a uniform to Stark.

Steve dresses in red, white and blue fatigues, dons a blue form-fitting helmet and lifts the star spangled shield onto his back. Captain America and his soldiers, including Bucky, make their way across Europe, flattening Hydra’s bases one-by-one. News of his exploits reach the Red Skull and Zola.

High in the Alps, Steve and his men have a mission to apprehend Zola in his personal train. Three member of the team: Ca

A high ranking Russian General has arrived at an industrial project office. It is night and this man is there on personal business: He is looking for his niece. Somehow, in the past decade, he has managed to find her, or at least someone who appears to be the daughter of his half brother
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The would-be niece is skeptical, and afraid. General Yevgraf Zhivago tells her the details of the life of his half brother as he knows it. This is the movie.

Yuri Zhivago is a boy, only 8 years old, when his mother dies, somewhere in central Asia, not far from Mongolia. Yuri is adopted by very close friends of his mother, the Gromykos, an upper class family with a home in Moscow and a country estate near the Ural Mountains. The Gromykos have a daughter, Tonya, who is the same age as Yuri.

Yuri, now a young man, becomes a doctor, preferring to see “life” in General Practice rather than be a researcher. He is also an accomplished and published poet. Late one winter evening, a lonely group of socialist demonstrators is slaughtered by a Czar Cavalry Unit. Yuri witnesses the entire event from his balcony and attempts to care for the wounded. He is forced back into his home by the soldiers. He is shaken by the event.

The following winter, at a music recital, Yuri’s mentor is summoned to treat a woman who has attempted suicide, possibly by drinking Iodine. Yuri accompanies his mentor and sees “life” first hand. It is at this woman’s home where he first sees Lara, the daughter of the woman. He is smitten. Shortly thereafter, at a Christmas party, the engagement announcement of Yuri and Tonya is interrupted by Lara shooting Komarovsky, Lara’s sometime lover and companion. Komarovsky is only slightly wounded and Lara is escorted out of the party by her fiancé, Pasha.

World War I erupts and Yuri is posted to a field unit far to southwest near Ukraine. Lara is a volunteer nurse in the same area. Her husband (Pasha), disappears during a battle, and is presumed dead. As the summer of 1917 ends, the October Russian Revolution occurs, changing the entire political landscape. World War I for the Russians had begun to wind down the previous summer, ending in the winter. Yuri and Lara, having worked together in an old country estate converted to a hospital, are the last to leave the now empty facility. They are clearly in love with each other, but have managed to keep their passions suppressed.

Yuri returns to his Moscow home to find his step-mother deceased, and his home (his step father’s home) occupied by 13 additional families. The Bolsheviks are now in full control of the large cities, and collectivization has begun. But Moscow is in trouble; with virtually no food supplies or heating fuel (wood), the impending Russian winter will be deadly. One night, Yuri decides to steal some fence boards that can be burned. He is observed by Yevgraf (now a policeman and party official) and is followed home. Yevgraf knows this man is his half brother and rather than arrest Yuri, the two connect for the first time. But the works of Yuri Zhivago, the published poet, has fallen out of favor with the authorities putting the lives of Yuri, his wife Tonya, his son Shasha, and his step-father Alexander, in danger. Yevgraf arranges all the necessary travel papers and the family of 4 departs Moscow eastbound in a crowed boxcar. Their destination is Yuriatin, the small town near the family’s country estate at Varykino.

Enroute, the train stops due to civil war activity in the area. Yuri wanders away from his train, only to stumble into the military train of a communist general. The general turns out to be the husband of Lara, Pasha. But Pasha has taken on a new name, People’s Commander Strelnikov. He has become a renegade, and uses his army to fight the remaining White Russians however he can. Strelnikov and Zhivago discover they have seen each other before, at the party where Komarovsky was shot. Suspicions that Yuri is an assassin or spy are determined to be groundless and Strelnikov uncharacteristically releases Yuri. Yuri and family reach their distant estate.

It is early spring. The main house has been sealed by the local communist authorities, but the gardener’s cottage remains available. The family gets the vegetable garden back in shape, and settles in for what is expected to be a multi-year stay. The family thrives, and remains in the cottage, living almost invisibly. That summer, the czar and his family are executed. The family remains in the cottage through the winter.

Finally, the next summer, Yuri takes the short trip into Yuriatin. Lara has lived in Yuriatin for about a year, having returned there in search of her husband, Pasha (Strelnikov). Yuri and Lara meet in the local library, and an affair between the two begins. But Yuri cannot live with the conflict of the affair. His pregnant wife loves him deeply, and so does Lara. Yuri rides into Yuriatin to break off the affair.

On the way home, Yuri is kidnapped by a Red Partisan unit and is drafted to be their medical officer. A year and a half later, in the dead of winter, Yuri wanders away from the Red Guard Unit, deserting. Yuri makes his way back to Yuriatin, discovering that his family has left Varykino for Moscow. He goes to the only other place he knows, Lara’s small apartment. Starving and nearly dead, Lara brings him back to health. Lara gives Yuri a letter from Tonya, addressed to him care of Lara. The letter is dated 6 months earlier. Tonya had known of Yuri’s affair, and Tonya and Lara had met. Yuri’s family has escaped back to Moscow, and is being deported from Russia. Shortly thereafter, Komarovsky unexpectedly appears at Lara’s apartment. He brings news that Lara’s husband Strelnikov is “gone”, Yuri is considered a deserter, and their days are numbered. Komarovsky offers help by way of transportation to the far east of Russia, Vladavastok, from which they can go anywhere in the world. Lara and Yuri refuse the offer, but know Komarovsky is right, their days are numbered.

Lara and Yuri move themselves to Varykino, and occupy a small portion of the main house. They stay there through most of the remaining winter. Again, Komarovsky finds them and tells them that Strelnikov has been arrested just 5 miles from Varykino. Lara and Yuri must now move quickly to survive. They accept Komarovsky’s offer of protection and transportation to Manchuria, and leave Varykino immediately. But Yuri remains behind, ostensibly to bring his own sledge to the train station. Lara and Komarovsky wait for Yuri on the train at the Yuriatin train station, but Yuri does not arrive. The train leaves, and Lara announces to Komarovsky that she is pregnant with Yuri’s child.

Eight years pass. Yuri is found in Moscow by Yevgraf, in poor health, malnourished and jobless. Yevgraf arranges for Yuri to get his old job back at the hospital and sees him off at the street car stop on his first day. On the ride, Yuri thinks he sees Lara walking in the direction of the street car. He attempts to get off the car, succeeds and collapses in the street. He dies of a heart attack.

At the memorial, huge numbers of people pay their respects, much to Yevgraf’s amazement. One of those people is Lara, and Lara is searching for her daughter Tonya, lost somewhere near Mongolia during the far east civil war. Yevgraf and Lara search Moscow’s orphanages, but Tonya is not found. Speaking of Lara, Yevgraf narrates: “One day she went away and didn’t come back. She died or vanished somewhere in one of the labor camps; a nameless number on a list that was after-wards…mislaid. That was quite common in those days.”

The story his been told, and the scene returns to the project office. Although Tonya, now a young woman of about 18, wants to believe who were her parents, but only if the fact is true. Morning has come, and Yevgraf makes a final request, that Tonya think about establishing with Yevgraf a family relationship. Neither have any relatives, and Tonya promises to think about it.